Revd Dr Lance Stone, Minister, Emmanuel United Reformed Church, Cambridge
A dose of heavenly-mindedness
John 6: 56-69
Our readings from John over the past few weeks have focused on this extraordinary chapter 6, where Jesus speaks of himself as the bread of life. It is difficult material. At times John’s prose is convoluted and complex and it is with some relief that we are drawn this week by our reading towards the end of the chapter.
It’s worth remembering though what started this long discourse by Jesus. It was of course the feeding of the 5000 that took place at the beginning of the chapter, one of the few incidents in the life and ministry of Jesus that are recorded by all four Gospel writers. You will recall how Jesus had been confronted by this large crowd which was following him and Jesus asks his disciples how on earth they are going to feed all these people. And the disciples are perplexed. ‘Six months wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little’, says Philip. But then step forward the boy with his five loaves and two fishes and suddenly there is enough – more than enough for everybody. In fact there is so much that twelve baskets of leftovers are gathered up. And we are told the after this dazzling display of power and providence that the people wanted to come and take Jesus by force to make him king. No wonder! Jesus is the hero of the moment, the man in demand.
How strange therefore that as the chapter proceeds people become more and more disillusioned with Jesus. We find them arguing and disputing with him, and by the time we reach these verses at end of the chapter even Jesus’ disciples are turning away and leaving him. Even his closest followers want nothing more to do with him. What has happened? What on earth has gone wrong? Well, the reason comes down to the extraordinary – and frankly weird – interpretation that Jesus puts upon the miracle. Just listen to what Jesus says earlier in the chapter about this incident: ‘Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you’. In other words, don’t be preoccupied with physical bread that nourishes the body. You need to be concerned about spiritual food which gives us eternal life. Don’t be so preoccupied with the life of the flesh – get your life in the Spirit into gear! And maybe that in itself would not have caused too much offence, but Jesus then goes on to speak about himself as the Bread of Life, the very staple diet of true living and this is where people begin to get understandably edgy. How dare he say this? How dare he speak of himself as the very bread that God sends down from heaven to give life to the world? [click to continue…]
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